Seasons Change But People Don't
by Ashimattack
Summary: That shows a lot of devotion' He smiled sadly, 'not so much devotion but fear of being alone' - not AU
1. Summer

**Wow a multi chaptered loveless fic all about the Zeros!**

**They do not get enough love...**

**There will be four chapters in total, one for each season.**

**I will stop talking now so you can start reading, enjoy :)**

**note: (;;) is a break. the breaks aren't working, silly fanfic**

(;;)

Glancing at my watch told me that the time was precisely 9:53, which meant I had exactly 13 minutes until my bus came at 10:06. Looking ahead of me I saw that I still had two hundred metres or so of grassy open field before I reached the shade of the bus stop.

I knew I would make it with plenty of time to spare but of course with the hot sun beating down on my unnaturally pale skin the remaining distance I had to cover would feel like hours.

I took a long gulp from my drink bottle and once again cursed my poor genetics; messy auburn hair and red head skin do not mix well with hot summery weather.

"I was not made for this" I muttered as I hurried towards the shelter, which only saved to make me even hotter and sweatier than before. I wiped my forehead on my loose-fitting shirt and hissed; 'Dammit! I hate my life' **(1)**

I glanced at my watch again and read that the time was now 10:52.

Good, means I only had to wait in this dingy bus shelter for another 4 minutes, possibly longer, I still didn't know the reliability of buses around here.

Allow me to explain; recently I had come down with a rare case of amnesia.

Pretty much I went to sleep as an ordinary 14 year old and woke up 18.

With no family or friends, or any idea what I had been doing for the past four years.

And to top it all off I had been completely wiped from every record book I could find.

Yeah, it's not fun. I don't recommend it.

I had recently acquired a job in a small cafe in town. I didn't actually have an identity so it was all kinda cash-in-hand pretty-illegal stuff but it didn't really bother me, I had to live somehow.

After I got a job I managed to find a place to stay but it was a little bit out of town...

As in, far out of town.

With no one else around for a while.

Except for a dingy little bus stop.

I had only just moved into the house and today was my first time riding the bus.

I wondered why a bus even came to this place; it was so deserted there mustn't be anyone around for ages....

Hang on, was that person there before?

I realized that I mustn't have taken in much of my surroundings or else I would have noticed the man (?) that was already sitting down on the uncomfortable looking seat.

I frowned as I took in his strange appearance; long dead straight blondey-silvery hair and extremely revealing clothes that looked like they'd be more suited to a girl although he appeared male. He was sitting with his hand extended, palm up and was feeling his wrist.

But what was more interesting was the strange feeling I got from looking at him, almost as though I'd met him before...

I glanced at my watch again; it was still 10:07, the bus still wasn't here.

I sighed and looked back at the man.

At second glance he appeared to be about the same age as me, he just looked older as... well he didn't have his ears anymore.

What? I'm technically still fourteen years old. You can't expect me to have...

Whatever.

Back to the story.

I wondered whether I should attempt some conversation but changed my mind when the bus arrived.

The doors opened and I got on, expecting him to follow but he remained positioned on the left side of the seat.

I shrugged and sad down.

The bus moved away and I looked up at the sky, then looked back towards the shelter and realized the boy was gone.

(;;)

The next day I found myself running towards the bus shelter at exactly 8:01.

It was early but you could tell it was summer, the sun was already out.

I'd forgotten about my earlier shift and overslept, hence why I was running in this extreme heat.

I reached the shelter at 8:03; the bus would come at 8:05.

'_Good. I made it_' I thought as I leant over panting on the left side of the shelter, I looked up and was surprised the see the same boy from yesterday, only this time he was sitting on the right side of the seat.

He was still staring intensely at his hand.

'What... the hell are ...you doing?' I finally asked him, panting.

He slowly dragged his eyes away from his hand until they met mine; they were a cute pinkish colour.

'I'm checking' he answered simply

I frowned and tried to regained my breath,

'Checking... what?'

'Checking my pulse. To make sure I'm alive' he answered before returning his eyes to his wrist.

I stared at him for a moment and finally stopped panting.

'And what happens if you can't feel it?' I asked, slightly curious

He looked back at me again, contemplating,

'Well then I guess I'd go to the hospital' he answered after a moment of pondering.

I stared at him for a second, deciding whether I should laugh or run away screaming when my decision was made by the bus arriving.

The doors opened and I went to get on when I noticed he wasn't moving.

'Aren't you going to come with me?' I asked him

He glanced up and shook his head.

I shrugged, got on the bus and sat down in a seat.

The bus drove away and I watched the figure of the bus shelter get smaller and smaller until it was just a speck in the distance.

(;;)

It was 2pm the next day when I found myself back at the bus shelter, waiting for the 2 o clock bus. Which was running late.

But that wasn't really bothering me as such, what was bothering me was the sight of _the same boy_ sitting down in the gravel about two metres away from the shelter with his back to it.

'_What the hell? Does he just sit here all the time? Does he ever actually get on the bus?' _

I figured he must do something else, I never saw him when I took the later bus home.

But he was starting to freak me out.

'Hey you!' I shouted, he didn't move.

'HEY YOU!' I shouted louder.

He still didn't move.

He was starting to annoy me.

I picked up a rock and –I'm sure if I remembered having a mum right now, she'd be disappointed in me- threw it at him. Hard.

He didn't even flinch when the rock hit him lower back, not even when a drop of blood rolled down from it.... this made me conflicted, amazed that I'd thrown such an awesome shot and slightly worried about his lack of reaction

I walked up to him and tapped him lightly.

'Hey man, are you okay?' I asked him.

He _finally_ turned to face me.

'Yeah sure. Why wouldn't I be?'

'Well I just like... um you're bleeding' I said

He frowned in puzzlement, then reached out his hand and touched his back before bringing it back, covered in fresh blood.

He sniffed it.

'So I am' He said in wonder as he stared at the blood with a slightly maniacal look in his eyes

'Didn't you even notice?' I asked, incredulous. And freaked out. Very very freaked out.

'Nah' he said 'I don't feel pain.'

I looked at him for a moment, kind of looking similar to this O.o before remembering why I wanted to talk to him in the first place.

'WHY ARE YOU STALKING ME?' I asked, loudly. This guy was _weird. _I needed him to go away.

'I'm... stalking you?' he asked

'Well you're always at this bus station... and you never catch the bus'

'No I just catch the later bus to you'

'But my shifts change like, daily!'

'It's a coincidence.'

It still seemed a little suss.

'Then why do you come so early?'

'I don't want to miss my bus.'

'...'

'What is your name?' he asked me

I remained silent.

'My name's Yuki.' He said and held out his hand, the one with blood on it.

"_A fake name" _said something in my subconsciousness.

I shook my head a little, wondering how I knew that then chose not to shake his hand and stayed silent.

'It's polite to tell someone your name when they tell you there's.' He replied to my silence.

'My name's Nagato' it was the name I used now. **(2)**

Something had obviously happened to me and I wasn't going to risk anything.

I saw him smirk as I got on the bus, and then only just managed to hear him shout out to me;

'You have cute eyes _Nagato_.'

(;;)

**(1) Just an overdramatic phrase I say all the time, he's not serious :P**

**(2) A cookie for anyone who can get the three references in these names ^^**


	2. Autumn

**So here's chapter 2/4**

**Thinking I should mention that this isn't actually an AU story,**

**You'll just have to keep reading ;)**

(;;)

Autumn had just begun and the weather had cooled just enough that I didn't get sun burnt whenever I left my house but not enough to justify wearing a jacket.

All in all it was nice.

I walked to the bus shelter at a leisurely pace; I had the 10:20 shift so I was catching the 10:06 bus. It was currently 9:59 so I had plenty of time.

I was so wrapped up in the crazy-but-nice autumn weather that I failed to notice a certain someone who was waiting for me in the shelter.

He gave me a grin as I reached it, to which I returned with a confused smile.

I hadn't seen him since summer, he'd completely disappeared. This only served to make him stranger in my opinion.

'What happened to your face?' I asked him when I noticed that a long scar now ran down it.

'Tried to battle without my fighter unit' he said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I stared at him.

'Fighter unit? What is that?' I asked, he opened his mouth as though he was about to explain so I stopped him 'actually, just forget I asked'

He looked slightly disappointed but to be honest I didn't really care.

We both fell silent until the silence was deafening and I had to ask.

'So how did you actually get the scar?'

'How old are you?' he asked me

I stared at him.

He had just completely ignored my question and then to top it off he was challenging me!

What a prick.

Well two can play at this game

'How old are **you**?' I asked

Yeah I know.

Trè mature there Natsuo.

'I'm 18' he said

...

Damn him.

'Yeah I'm 18 as well.' It still feels weird to say that I must admit.

I was waiting for him to make a crack about my still apparent ears and tail but he just stayed quiet.

'That's good' he said quietly, almost to himself.

I stared at him for a while

'So where have you been for the past couple of months?' I asked him

He stared at me with slight surprise

'Why, did you miss me?' he smirked and it looked so... normal.

Like... the strangest sense of dè ja vu....

'Nagato?' he asked, snapping me out of my daze. I realized with a start he was right in front of me now.

I blinked, wondering why he was addressing me as such before remembering.

'How did you get there?' I asked and he looked relieved.

'God, you just zoned out. It was a little unnerving. Also your bus is here'

I realized with a start that my bus was indeed here and hurried to catch it.

'I'll see you tomorrow _Yuki_!' I said as I got on the bus

'Don't count on it' he replied with a smirk.

(;;)

As fate would have it Yuki was right and I did not see him the next day.

Or the day after that.

Or the day after that.

In fact I didn't see him for another three weeks, when the weather had taken a turn for the worse and was absolutely pelting down.

I arrived at the shelter after running all the way from my house. I was absolutely saturated and I found him sitting there calmly and more importantly DRY.

'How long have you been waiting?' I shouted to him after I was underneath the shelter.

'Since before it started raining.' He replied, I was having trouble hearing him over the loud crashing of the rain on the tin roof.

'But it started raining like an hour ago' I said quizzically

'Oh really? I hadn't noticed.' He said absently, as if he was distracted. I looked behind me to see what he was being distracted by, only to discover he was watching my tail intently as I attempted to shake it dry.

I blushed slightly and stopped moving it, what a creep.

He stopped staring at my tail and began staring at my whole appearance in general.

'You're a mess' he said simply

'Well in case you hadn't noticed its kinda raining' I said, my teeth chattering slightly.

'You're cold?' he asked, seeming surprised

'Uh... I guess so. My clothes are all wet' I mumbled

He looked at me for a moment before removing his jacket.

'Here. Let's trade jackets.' He said

'What?' I asked, taken aback, 'but then you'll be cold!'

'I can't feel the cold, remember?' he said, 'Just take the jacket'

'Um... I'll be fine' I said, before promptly sneezing.

He rolled his eyes.

'You're gonna catch a cold. Just give me your freaking jacket.'

I stared at him for a moment and realized he wasn't gonna drop this. I sighed and reluctantly removed my sopping wet jacket before handing it to him.

He handed over his own jacket and put mine on. _Weird..._

His jacket was a little too big for me and all padded and woolly, it was so comfortable and it smelt pleasantly nice too, somewhat familiar.... I couldn't help sighing in content as I put it on.

I heard _Yuki_ giggle beside me; I quickly shot him a questioning look.

'You're cute' he said

I felt my right eye twitch slightly and he smiled

'I love your eyes' He said

'Uh thanks' I said, a little unsure.

The conversation had just gotten weird, luckily for me my bus pulled up at that time.

'Gotta go!' I said before quickly getting on the bus 'thanks for the jacket, I'll give it back tomorrow'

'Don't worry about it' he said with a smile 'you can keep it'

It was only after I'd sat down on the bus and was 200 metres away when I wondered why he'd been wearing a jacket in the first place if he couldn't feel the cold.

(;;)

The rain wasn't so bad the next day, it lightly dripped on the puddles. Causing ripples of water to cascade.

I brought his jacket with me, wearing it over my sweater that I'd discovered was the only warm top I owned that wasn't my jacket. I fully intended to trade back for said jacket but to my dismay he wasn't there.

I sat there in the empty bus stop, watching the ripples and pondering over the strange dream I'd had the night before.

I was standing in a park, a hand clutched at mine but I couldn't feel it. I looked up and saw a blurred face, then snowflakes. Everywhere. My body suddenly stopped working and I fell to the ground, looking up I noticed that the figure beside me had too.

Then I had woken up.

I had the strangest feeling that it had been Yuki beside me in the dream.

But that was just a hunch; all I knew was that there was a weird feeling inside me of belonging when my hand was placed within the other person's.

And now that I sat here alone in the quiet bus shelter, seeing only the ripples of water on puddles and listening to the rain softy hitting the roof. I realized I felt a little lonely without him beside me, watching puddles and listening to the pitter patter too.


	3. Winter

**second last chapter!**

**enjoy :)**

**(;;)**

I bolted towards the bus shelter, the rain beating heavily down upon my back. And face. And arms. And pretty much everywhere.

It was raining very very hard.

I continued to run as fast as I could, the shelter was still a couple of hundred metres away and the rain only seemed to be getting worse. This was my mistake.

The ground was soaking wet and covered with leaves and twigs from the large trees, combine these two factors and what do you get?

One Natsuo lying sprawled in a puddle with grazes up my arms.

'Dammit!' I hissed as I attempted to pick myself up with the rain still beating down on me.

Then a shadow covered me and the rain suddenly stopped.

_What? But I can still hear it and...._

I looked up to see Yuki standing above me, one hand holding his umbrella above me and the other reached out to help me up.

I wanted to scowl at him and refuse his help. But then it started hailing and my body took over, and forced me to smile and reach up for his hand.

_Dammit!_ I'm so pathetic.

I was so lost in my scolding that I didn't notice when Yuki said something.

'Sorry what was that?' I asked him to repeat

'I said that "the buses won't operate today because of the hail"' he repeated.

My eye twitched slightly and I looked down at my soaking clothes and bleeding wrists.

'Are you serious?' I asked in a flat tone

He nodded.

...

**DAMMIT.**

Wait, that was out loud.

'DAMMIT!' I shouted at the sky. 'WHY WHY WHY?!'

I caught myself and looked back at Yuki; he was smirking so I scowled at him.

'Well now what am I supposed to do? I can't go to work...'

'You could hang out with me' he said simply. I stared at him for a moment.

'It's hailing.' I said flatly.

He smiled.

Wow that was a scary smile.

'That just makes it more fun!' He said and suddenly bolted away.

With the umbrella.

'HEY!' I shouted as I chased after him.

A small part of my mind told me I should just go to the bus stop and wait there but I quickly suppressed that voice and listened to the familiar one urging me to follow after the blonde boy with the bright green umbrella.

Huh.

Wonder where that voice came from?

(;;)

After the day in the hail I ended up getting sick.

Like, really sick.

Who'd have thought that running around in the hail for six hours could make you sick?

So anyway, I missed a few days of work and on the fourth day I found myself heading to the bus shelter early.

No particular reason, but the strange dreams I kept having about a certain someone may have had something to do with it. And the glomp I received from something blonde when I arrived at the bus shelter confirmed my suspicions.

'Are you okay?' He asked me urgently

I gave him a quizzical look

'Yeah, just a cold. Work told me to stay home' I said

He looked embarrassed.

'Sorry, I was worried... it was my fault you were in the hail for so long after all'

Suddenly the atmosphere was strange.

We sat on opposite ends of the bus shelter in silence. Neither of us wanting to break it until once again the silence became deafening.

'How did you get all those scars?' I asked. It was true that he had more scars than usual.

'I can't tell you' he mumbled quietly.

'_I don't want you to know' _I read that as.

We were both plunged into silence again.

I had to say something.

He was so familiar; he had to have something to do with my past.

The dreams I kept having told me this for sure.

If only I could get the information from him.

'I lost my memory' I said

'I know' I knew he was telling the truth.

I had to keep asking him.

'Do you know what happened to my eye?'

'Yes'

'How do you know?'

'I can't tell you'

'Why can't you tell me?' I was getting desperate

'I was told I couldn't

'Then why are you here anyway?!' I was shouting now but he continued to respond with casual indifference.

'I needed to see you'

(;;)

'This is stupid' I told myself as I once again trudged to the bus shelter in the pouring rain on my _day off_. 'So stupid. Why are you even doing this?'

Even though Spring was just beginning Winter still loomed over me

I had turned around countless times, intent on returning to my home when I reminded myself that I needed to apologise to Yuki.

I groaned loudly when I got to the shelter only to find it empty.

'Now what?' I muttered and _plonked_ myself down on the seat. 'Do I just... wait for him?'

I thought about all the times I'd come here to find him waiting for me and decided that waiting was a good idea.

Maybe I can be the one to greet him for once.

I waited for half an hour and started to get sleepy; I didn't even notice myself drifting off until I was suddenly not in the bus loop anymore.

I was in a cold metal building, strapped to a table.

There were needles and computers all around me.

'_Is this a laboratory or a hospital?'_ I found myself wondering

'Doesn't matter. They're both equally as bad' came a voice from seemingly nowhere.

I knew that voice.

I glanced around until I spotted him, I went to call for him but what came out was a strangled moan.

'Shh... It's okay Natsuo. I'm here to rescue you' he whispered to me and started ripping out needles and knocking over machine.

I tried to make a sound but couldn't.

Dammit, how did I speak before?

'Shh, no don't try to talk. It's Okay Natsuo. I won't let them hurt you or anything. Trust m...'

He trailed off and fell to the ground, clutching the back of his neck.

'What are you doing here?' A man with a tall frame and no face came in holding something that appeared... I couldn't even describe it.

I groaned and tried to shout, and then found myself in the empty bus shelter screaming out;

'YOJI!'

My head was burning; I clutched my forehead and tried to calm down the pain that was shooting to all parts of my body.

I glanced up and noticed that Yoji –yes that was his name- was sitting beside me staring intently with concern in his eyes.

My head was still throbbing but I managed to gasp out,

'Yoji' quietly.

His eyes widened in understanding.

Then he ran away.

I felt myself losing consciousness a few seconds later.

**(;;)**

**sorry about the cliffy, I needed to hook you in somehow :P**


	4. Spring

**Last Chapter!**

**I know it's a little shorter than the rest but this ammount of words was good for getting everything that needed to be said said**

**lol enjoy, you should read my other stories too ;)**

**(;;)**

When I regained consciousness I found I was still in that old bus shelter.

Only now I had a blanket to cover me.

A blanket covered with random blotches of blood.

Gross.

I desperately searched my body but found no bleeding.

I also noticed that I was dry.

'_How long was I passed out? And whose blood is this?'_

That's when I noticed the small box beside me; it was covered in bloody fingerprints. There was a card sitting on top of it with 'NATSUO' written in a messy sprawl

'_Yoji' _said a voice in my head immediately.

I picked up the card, opened it and attempted to read Yoji's terrible hand writing.

_Dear Natsuo._

_I'm sorry._

_Please don't hate me; I just miss you so much._

_Love Yoji_

_Ps. Look at the back of your neck_

I opened up the box and inside I found.... a mirror?

Two mirrors?

Remembering the card I picked up one mirror and held it in front of me then moved my hair over and held the other mirror to the back of my neck.

I was amazed to discover that there was a strange tattoo I'd never noticed of a symbol I'd never seen before.

It was a zero with a diagonal line through it.

It looked so familiar

Yet so far away

Kind of like Yoji

How had I never noticed that?

Beneath the mirror were apple bunnies.

Wait, apple bunnies?

Yes apple bunnies.

Rows and rows of poorly made apple bunnies, all of them were uneven and rough, some even had drops of blood on them from where he had obviously cut himself.

'_He never was all that good with a knife... more of my thing' _said a voice in my head

Wait.

When have I ever made apple bunnies?

My head pounded as a million memories suddenly returned to me.

(;;)

I returned to that spot the next day.

Knowing that he would be waiting for me.

And sure enough there he was.

'What happened?' I asked him immediately after I had crushed him to death with my hug

He had looked so happy when I glomped him but now his happiness was disappointment

'You still don't remember?' he asked desperately, like his heart was about to break

'No.' I assured him 'I remember you. And I remember Zero. I remember Ritsuka and Soubi and Nagisa but I_ don't _remember how I _forgot_ them'

He sighed and began to tell me the story

A sad story that took place after we had lost to Seimei.

Nagisa was to rewrite us, give us back our ability to feel and leave us to fend for ourselves.

But Yoji disagreed with this and fought her back.

He said that 'If she took away Zero she would take away our bond and neither she nor Ritsu had any right to do this!'

But she simply said she had no choice.

So he ran away.

He returned twice, the first was to try and rescue me.

He was stopped but not before he interrupted the transfer of memories by destroying all the equipment.

They realized my mind was screwed up so they decided they would just kill me but Yoji returned for the second time and stopped them.

He wanted to tell me everything and force me to remember but Soubi warned him if he tried to do that it could severely damage me.

So he left me alone but was watching over me the whole time.

Waiting for me to remember

Giving me little pushes towards it the whole time.

'That shows a lot of devotion.' I said and he smiled sadly

'Not so much devotion but more the fear of being alone'

I hugged him and felt myself brushing against the matching tattoo on the back of his neck.

Then I traced them down his back and discovered scars that were not there before.

'How did you get all those scars?' I asked him as I pulled away

He looked as though he didn't want to reply; so he evaded the question.

'Why did you cut your hair off?' he asked

I frowned.

Two can play at this game.

'What happened to your ears?' I asked, pulling my trump card

He smiled sadly at me.

Ha!

I win.

'You were gone for a year. A lot of stuff beyond my control happened' he said

My win felt hollow and I wished I had never asked

'How could I forget you?' I asked quietly, close to tears.

He looked about the same.

(;;)

Spring may have come slowly but it did come.

_Better late than never_

Soon the sun was shining and flowers were blooming everywhere.

_Tickling my nose..._

I had quit my job at the cafe. The money wasn't that good and Yoji said we didn't need it anyway

_Stupid and pointless. Only takes up valuable time that I could be spending with __**him**_**.**

We were together all the time. It didn't matter what we were doing

_As long as we're together._

We just sat in the bus stop. The dingy little bus stop that had brought about everything.

_Our bus stop_

Hand in hand

_Like it should be_

'Do you remember when it hailed?' asked Yoji

I smiled at the memory.

_My own _memory.

A memory that had never been tampered with and that belonged to us and us alone.

_Our memory._

I clutched onto Yoji's hand tighter than before, for once feeling the comfort and belonging that came from it.

I was only remembering small parts at a time.

But I knew that even if I could only remember little things one by one and we never managed to get back to how it was, everything would still be okay.

Simply because even after all of this, his hand was still in mine and we knew that we could never be separated for too long.

Because neither of us would ever stop trying

No matter what.


End file.
